100 years ago in Spokane: Auto club suspects gas gouging

From our archives, 100 years ago

The auto was still relatively new, but people in Spokane already were concerned about gas gouging.

The auto dealers division of the Inland Automobile Association asked for a probe of the Standard Oil Company in connection with recent price spikes.

The dealers were also concerned that prices were far higher in Spokane than “on the Coast.”

From the bridge beat: A temporary wooden Division Street Bridge was now open, just to the west of the old steel bridge that collapsed several months earlier. That bridge collapse killed numerous streetcar passengers and was one of the worst disasters in Spokane history.

From the squirrel beat: Students in Tyler and other rural areas southwest of Spokane poisoned hundreds of squirrel holes, as part of an extermination project led by county farm agent J.R. Shinn.

Shinn enlisted students to eradicate the ground squirrels because the rodents were a menace to farmers. The Tyler School principal led “a dozen poisoners” on an expedition into the fields.

One student alone poisoned 500 squirrel holes. Many other schools were slated to do their poisoning later in the week.